Hair-raising tales (1)

The insertion of the port into Val's upper right chest area went smoothly. Some pain resulted, mostly managed with regular Tylenol. The nurses and doc were all very friendly and competent, according to Val, who came out of the procedure with her usual post-IV-sedation merry mood and short-term-memory incapacity. I have come to know this stage of the post-op recovery only too well. Val is quite charming and quite funny on those drugs!

Home to lunch - Val was ravenous, then sleepy. I went to the college. Yvonne came over to "Val sit". I presumed Val would simply sleep the afternoon away and all would be quiet. Well. Not quite.

Photo montage of Val's evolving hair style.
Chester, the cat, wasn't sure what to make of it all! 

I came home around 5pm to discover an energized house: Unbeknownst to me, Yvonne has hair-cutting skills - and the scissors to go along with them. She and Val had set up a hair-salon in the sun room, and Yvonne had proceeded to give Val a spiky Mohawk-style hair cut.

I was greeted by two giddy women who were truly pleased with their work. And so was I. Val had enough product in her hair to give a really good effect, and she no longer would have those long red hairs falling out by the handful (which began in earnest in that morning's shower).

The process didn't end there, however.

Yvonne ordered in dinner and then continued with the cutting. See the photo montage for the final effect. We think Val looks rather distinguished with such short hair.

We realize the fall-out will continue, so today is hat-shopping day. We will see what the local shops can offer for daytime and indoor wearing in this fall season. The wonderful warm 'Jeannie Beanies' knitted by Val's yoga frieand Jeannie are beautiful and fit Val's tiny head splendidly, but they will be too warm for, for example, tonight's symphony outing.

Stay tuned for the continuation of the Val, Hair & Hats story...

Turning a corner

It's a busy week coming up: Val will have the port inserted this Friday (6 AM admission, but she should be home before lunch time), which will make the regular chemo sessions easier (no IV poking each time). Tuesday is blood work, then Wednesday is chemo session no. 2.

Val began to feel a tingling sensation in her scalp recently and, today, she experienced her first hair loss. Ah, well. We knew it would begin eventually...

Chemo brain is making an appearance in our house. This evening, while making dinner I was searching furiously for the tongs with which to serve the green beans. Val claimed to have washed them up earlier and put them way. But where? I opened many drawers. No tongs anywhere. I even checked the fridge to see if she had put them away in a crazy place.

Then I looked to the left of the stove, behind the serving dish I had put out. Yup. There were the tongs. Put there by me. Ahem. Pardon me. Is chemo brain contagious, do you think?

We are planning to go to the symphony this Saturday and then attend a BBQ with our friend Yvonne and others on Sunday. Here's hoping the weather holds and Val feels up to all the outings.

Stay in touch. We love hearing from you.
Love,
Amanda

Day 8 and still good

It's day 8 past Val's first treatment and she is feeling well enough to have abandoned me in the city and gone to the cottage with our friend Yvonne for a few days of lake-side quiet and beauty. It's wonderful, isn't it?

Val has been feeling a few minor side-effects from the chemo, but nothing that some basic OTC (over-the-counter) drugs can't help her manage, and she hasn't experienced any hair loss yet.

I am very grateful for all the messages and emails that come in, but am not always able to respond in a timely fashion or, indeed, respond at all, I'm afraid. But that doesn't mean your communication is not appreciated. I love hearing from you, so please keep it all coming.

The happiness of our marriage ceremony continues to buoy me up, so I'm sharing a pic of the small group that helped us mark the occasion. Picture yourself in there somewhere, for surely your spirit was part of the event.

My teaching is going well and I am finding my rhythm. Though I will confess to already looking forward to the Thanksgiving long weekend!

Love,
Amanda

No news = Good news

Well. That's the word of the day. It is Val's birthday and she feels well.

Heather and Gracie have just brought over a magnificent birthday wild-blueberry pie. Yum!

We really didn't know what to expect after the first treatment, but so far it has been essentially smooth sailing. Val was out on her bike yesterday, and again today. She says she feels normal, so we are simply enjoying this state.

I will continue to post our news on this blog, but less frequent postings can be taken as good news, I think.

Please continue sending along your thoughts and prayers and vibes. All welcome, all the time.

Day two survived

9:15 pm

End of day two of cycle number one. No major incidents to report.

Val experienced chills and fever in alternate waves throughout the day, but that was expected, and was managed with minor drugs (Tylenol).

We ate dinner together, and are now closing down the day.

Saturday is Val's birthday. Yikes. What a whirlwind these last few weeks have been...

Good night.
Amanda

Chemo session one is done

9:15pm

Well. We both survived the first chemo session. It's true that dreading the unknown is often worse than experiencing the actual thing. So it was with today's 'first'.

Val had no immediate adverse reaction to the two drugs given her - that's why the day was so long, because a couple of hours were built in for observation to ensure her heart or breathing weren't negatively affected. We know that the impact of the treatments will build over time. Fatigue will come, as will assorted other horrid things. But today was good.

The nurses were fully present and kind and capable. Randa drove us to the appointment for 8:15am, I was with Val all day, and Mendel came along and stayed and drove us home by about 2:30pm.

Yvonne dropped in for dinner and now we're closing up the day. Jacki delivered some groceries. We are well taken of for the moment. (We're still working on figuring out what the larger long-term needs are going to be and, once we know them, we'll organize lists and rounds and schedules and so on.)

Who knows what tomorrow or the following days will bring, but for the moment we're content with having had today pass as it did.

Goodnight.

Week One: Sunday, September 1, 2013

Cutting the cake

Quite the week, it’s been, as we decided to get legally married to mark our 20^th anniversary together. 

For me, the precipitating event was filling out the Pharmacare form to register for the chemo drugs: In ticking off the ‘marital status’ box, I thought to myself: “Gee, it’s too bad I can’t tick off ‘married’.” I’ve never thought that before, but the recurrence of Val’s cancer is certainly a compelling reason to have such a thought, I believe.

That evening, the Monday of the meeting with the oncologist, I said to Val that we should get married. Our friend Jacki was there and she said, “Is that a proposal?” and I said yes and then Val said yes. But it took our friend Yvonne the following evening to really convince us that we should do it; she did so by pulling out a notebook and beginning to plan how we could make it happen.

With her help and skill, we pulled together a small gathering of friends on Saturday, August 31^st, at our house, with our friend Randa officiating as the marriage commissioner. It was a lovely event, and we’re only sorry we had to keep it so small, but that’s what the circumstances called for.

Now, with rings on our fingers, we are looking ahead to Val’s first session of chemotherapy this coming Wednesday. We are both anxious, of course, and are now getting serious about making lists of friends whom we’ll ask to help us out with driving and feeding and general daily tasks.

Thanks for being with us as this process unwinds...